shakedown 1979

i've written many times that the 1977 world series is my first real baseball memory. i watched the dodgers lose to the yankees, and i recall the feeling of disappointment after game 6 with reggie jackson's home run exploits pretty well.  the 1978 season was the first one i really followed, and i was again disappointed by the dodgers' fall classic loss to the yankees, especially after they took a 2 games to none lead on bob welch's famous strikeout of mr. october.  

collecting cutch wanted to know about a year when my favorite team didn't win the world series.  well, after two straight world series losses, i figured that 1979 would be the year that the dodgers finally won the world series on my watch. i was wrong.

my hopes were based on the fact that the team was pretty similar to the two that came before it:

tom lasorda was back at the helm

he was in his third full season as a big league manager.

dusty baker was back in left.

bobby castillo was back in the bullpen

ron cey was back at the hot corner

vic davalillo was back on the bench

joe ferguson was back behind the plate and in the outfield

terry forster was back in the bullpen

steve garvey was back at first, every day

burt hooton was back in the starting rotation

charlie hough was back in the bullpen

davey lopes was back at second

ted martinez was back in a utility role

rick monday was back in center

manny mota was back on the bench

johnny oates was back behind the plate (sometimes)

doug rau was back in the rotation

lance rautzhan was back in the bullpen 

bill russell was back at short

reggie smith was back in right

don sutton was back in the rotation

bob welch was back on the big league pitching staff

and steve yeager was back behind the plate

pedro guerrero was back as a top prospect 

gone were jerry grote

tommy john (to the yankees of all teams)

lee lacy

bill north

and rick rhoden

along with glenn burke and mike garman.

added to the team were pete broberg

double dipper andy messersmith

derrel thomas

and gary thomasson

along with jerry reuss, ken brett, lerrin lagrow, and double-dipper von joshua.

rick sutcliffe was up, seemingly for good, and won the rookie of the year award.  unfortunately, that was one of the lone bright spots for this club.  injuries claimed forster, monday, rau, and smith for most of the season, and hooton for the last month.  by the time school let out for the summer, the dodgers had already peaked and were rapidly heading towards a double-digit deficit in the standings.  i was facing a new kind of disappointment.

in the end, this team that had won two straight pennants finished below .500 at 79-83, in third place in the nl west behind cincinnati and houston.  i wound up still watching the world series because i was an avid baseball fan, but i was pretty ticked that earl weaver made so many pitching changes in the 9th inning of game 7 because i thought 'eight is enough' was supposed to be on and i wanted the game to end on time! in retrospect, i think the show was pre-empted by the world series that week.  at the time, however, it was just another way that the 1979 baseball season disappointed me.

a killer add

i recently stumbled across a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams signed harmon killebrew card for a very reasonable price.  i have no intention of completing the signed set, but i do pick up a card once in a while if the price is right.  still, killebrew's certified auto card from this set would have been on the short list of non-dodgers that i most coveted. this particular killebrew card popped up in a different search, and i happened upon it shortly after the card was posted for sale.  here it is:

the seller did not post an image of the back of the card that features the authentication statement, but i did not want to waste time by asking for clarification lest someone else purchase the card out from under me. i knew it was an authentic signature, and i had a pretty good reason to suspect that it was certified, so i snapped it up.

sure enough, the card was delivered, complete with richard p. mcwilliam's best wishes.

i based my assumption that it was certified on the fact that i had previously had harmon sign the base version of this card as one of my in-person autograph experiences with him

and he avoided signing the "year platter" as a few other players have done with these cards when signing through the mail.  my assumption was that harmon did that to differentiate the cards signed in person from the certified versions, but of course i really don't know for sure.  what i do know is that i am happy to have another killebrew auto in my collection (my second certified), especially from this set!  i've updated my timeless teams autograph collection as well.

49 isn't 50

in hindsight, topps missed the boat by issuing the first heritage set in 2001 using the 1952 design.  there is a synchronicity lost by not matching up the design with its 50-year anniversary.  as a result, we have the 1970 card design issued in 2019. that hasn't stopped topps from stamping the buybacks included in the heritage releases as "50th anniversary" cards, even though it is really only the 49th anniversary.  it is the 50th year that you could purchase a card printed in 1970, but anniversaries, by definition, don't begin accruing until one year has passed.

anyway, the 1970 set means a lot to me. when i transitioned from a set to team collector in 1980, i set 1970 as the starting point for my dodger collection.  it was my birth year, and even though i at some point ventured in to the 50's and 60's with cards of the boys in blue, the 1970 topps set was the first "vintage" set that i completed. it also features the first card of any member of the famed dodger infield, and that was the card i was most looking forward to obtaining this year.

it is a little bit strange to see that stamp on a bill russell card, and to see that design replicated with current players featured.  it makes me feel old, even though the 50th anniversary of my birth isn't until 2020. by the way, bill russell buybacks will now be a thing until 2036 when the 1987 topps design rolls around in heritage. i hope i'm here for it.

favorite fabrics

my favorite relic set, hands down, is 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game.  perhaps i am biased because there is a strong dodger checklist featured, and i was able to obtain a fantastic steve garvey card numbered 6/6 (a 'jersey number' parallel) back when the set was first issued.

i will occasionally check ebay for dodger cards from this set, but with my garvey collection complete for this issue, there is not much of a priority here.  still, i recently found a seller with a bunch of cards for sale, and picked up four for my collection.

here is a don sutton 'century' parallel - that means it is numbered to 21.

this shawn green card is a 'jersey number' parallel,

so in addition to having the jersey number stencil over the patch, it is numbered to green's familiar 15 (a number which still belongs to davey lopes, by the way).

less rare is this don drysdale 'jersey number' parallel

as big d wore number 53.  i now own roughly 4% of the drysdale 'jersey number' card print run, as i have another in my collection already.  this new one shows the blue dodger patch a bit better.

finally, i also snagged a vladimir guerrero 'century' parallel

for my vladdy collection.

i'm a bit disappointed that none of these patches feature the red dodger number as my fotg garvey 'jersey number' and one of my garvey 'century' parallels do.  so, around the same time i picked those fotg cards up, i scratched that red patch itch with these fine cards:

2008 upper deck spx winning materials limited patch jeff kent

numbered to 99

2008 upper deck spx winning materials dual limited patch rafael furcal

numbered to 50

2015 panini donruss jersey kings studio dee gordon

numbered to 5

2016 topps museum collection meaningful materials prime relic gold zack greinke

numbered to 35

and 2016 topps strata clearly authentic autograph relic green parallel clayton kershaw

numbered to 75

red patch!

i staked my claim

i have completed several trades with wes - jaybarkerfan - and host of the most incredible group break ever.  his area 40 christmas break was mind boggling in the number of packs and boxes busted.  and, as you undoubtedly know, he gave by far the vast majority of the hits away to us fellow bloggers and collectors.

i, like everybody else who has witnessed wes's generosity, knew that this would be a very popular break.  and, even though i have a job and a family (and i certainly do not favor card blogs or collecting over them), i was able to sit down at the time appointed by wes to check his blog and put in a claim.  i took only one team - the dodgers.  i did not cherry pick teams hoping for big hits that i could flip.  it was only after wes advertised open spots in a new post a couple of days later, that i went back and added some other favorite teams of mine - the twins, the los angeles kings, and the vikings.

over the years, i've seen some comments or statements related to claims i've made in breaks that lead me to think that some feel entitled to getting their pick or that others should have first dibs on whether or not they want in. maybe i'm inferring something that isn't there, but it's happened enough times where i am fairly confident of the implication. i've been too late to claim my preferred teams or cards in breaks or trade bait posts before, and never have i felt slighted. disappointed sometimes? sure, but just in my own tardiness. never that the claiming happened too fast and was ridiculous or anything like that.  if it means that much to you, then beat everyone else to the punch.

i have also been denied a claim in breaks or trading groups a couple of times due to the host holding a spot for a certain person whom they hoped would be interested. that's fine by me, even though my money and/or return trade packages are as good as anyone else's.

regardless, i've never wished for a diluted return for any other blogger who made a claim before me.  that's weird.

anyway, i received my cards from this epic break, and here's what my claim earned me.

i'll start with the big gun - a 2004 topps clubhouse collection jackie robinson bat relic card

the inclusion of clubhouse collection in the break is what sealed the deal for me that i wanted to participate.  there is a very dodger friendly checklist in that release, and in addition to the jackie, i received a shawn green relic

and a paul loduca relic parallel, 

numbered on the back to 25.

the loduca is a "uniform" relic as opposed to the shawn green "jersey" relic, so it may be pants or socks or something else. i am assuming it comes from an all-star festivities uniform.

numbered cards were also considered hits in the break, so i wound up with a 2016 panini donruss joc pederson stat lines parallel

and a 2005 donruss classics orel hershiser stars of summer card

that was the extent of the dodger cards from the break, but it was definitely quality over quantity!

the other baseball team i selected, the minnesota twins, yielded just one card - a 2002 donruss rookie crusade adam johnson auto

there were high hopes for johnson in the twin cities, but he ran afoul of tom kelly in addition to not performing. that was not a recipe for success during those years.

hockey! i received two kings cards - neither were of luc robitaille

the 2001-02 pacific private stock aaron miller relic includes a colorado avalanche jersey piece.  i like that card particularly because miller is shown wearing the "am" memorial patch following the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took the lives of two king employees.  the frantisek kaberle is a holofoil parallel from 1999-00 pacific prism.

are you ready for some football? the vikes came through with this 1997 topps stadium club co-signers card

of orlando thomas and keith lyle of the rams.  i suppose that i earned the card due to thomas being on the front. i don't recall thomas, but i do remember corey chavous.  he was on the other football card i received along with phillip buchanon

the chavous relic is from his time with the arizona cardinals.

wes also included some other cards of familiar faces - a 1983 fleer davey lopes

and a 1986 donruss bill russell

no ron cey cards (i am assuming he saved them for a well known penguin fan), but there were two steve garvey cards to round out the package.  this is a 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer card

and this is a 2001 upper deck sp authentic cooperstown calling jersey card

when that card first came out, garvey was still on the ballot, and i was holding out hope that he would be elected.  most of the subjects included in the set have been inducted since then, but garvey is one of the few that have not.  i think he gets another shot from the veteran's committee that covers players from the 70's, but i am not certain.  however, with the election of harold baines, i am once again hopeful that garvey does get the call.

wes, thank you for all of the contests, trades, and giveaways. enjoy your post-blogging endeavors!